There are many scriptures that, if you take them by themselves, you can invent a new religion.  If you take the verse, "Jesus wept," and believe that we must all be exactly like Jesus, then you could invent a doctrine that says that we must all be weepers.  Or a slogan, "Come to worship at our church on Sunday and practice weeping."  Or that, "If you don't weep, then you aren't saved."  But you and I know that we must take the entire Word of God, and that every verse in the Bible must be verified by other verses.  The Bible is its own best reference.

I have been discussing a subject for the past few days that has no exact scriptural reference.  I have said that "Predestined damnation" is the flip side of the coin for those who subscribe to the doctrine of "Predestined salvation."  That you absolutely can't have one without the other.  But we must, "Study to show yourself approved unto God..."  2 Timothy 2:15.  Everyone should study scripture.  However, be careful not to try and make it say something that it doesn't say.

This theory of giving salvation to a chosen few is based on a verse--which taken by itself--has produced an entire religious following.  I can't buy into it--because I believe that God is good, not evil.  I can't believe that he would allow someone to be born that He has predestined to be damned to eternal hell.  I believe (based on scripture) that His hope is that every person who is born will choose Him.  And because of this, He expects you and me to spread the "Good news" to a lost world.

Romans 8:9 is the main scripture that this entire religious movement is built on.  "For those that God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."  Can God "foreknow?" Of course.  Does the scripture say that He foreknows everyone who will accept him?  No.  Only those he chooses to foreknow.  Some people, like John the Baptist, were predestined, in the womb, to do a certain work and had a predestined purpose.  I also agree that all who accept Christ will be conformed to His image.  There are hundreds of opinions written on this word "foreknew" dating back to the 1400's.  All--opinions--taken for absolute truth.   I've read a bunch of them.  But I believe that at the moment you choose Him, of your own free will, you become a Child of God and start the conformation into His image.  God's original predestined plan of salvation--for everyone.